Pages

Thursday, 14 June 2012

SONG FOR TODAY: UNKLE and Thom Yorke - Rabbit In Your Headlights

There was a great deal of hype around the release to UNKLE's 1998 album 'Psyence Fiction', mainly due to its range of guest vocalists. I first heard material from the album on a 1998 edition of Radio 1's Evening Session, which I recall listening to in the car on the way to see The Supernaturals at Bristol's Fleece And Firkin.

Along with Richard Ashcroft's contribution 'Lonely Soul', I'd say that this is the finest track on the record... The song's music video, directed by Jonathan Glazer won the MVPA's Best International Video of the Year Award in 1999. In 2006, Stylus Magazine ranked it number one on their list of the Top 100 Music Videos of All Time. It is anthologised on the DVD Directors Label, Vol. 5: The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer. The video stars Denis Lavant as a man wearing a heavy parka and walking along the middle of the road in a busy car tunnel. He appears to be out of his mind, mumbling and shouting incoherences.... After being knocked down by various cars several times, eventually the man removes his parka and throws it on the ground. Then, as the song's beat stops, leaving just a piano playing, the man stops as well. He smiles and opens his arms in a crucifix-like position. A MK2 Cavalier is coming his way and makes no intention of stopping. The car hits the man, but this time he stands unmoved, and the car destroys itself on impact.